Twenty superfans of De La Soul, the old-school hip-hop trio, recently paid $300 each for a schmoozy Skype video chat with the group. Another spent $1,500 on a vintage boom box from one member’s “personal collection.” But this wasn’t a charity auction. Instead, these perks — and many more — were offered in exchange for financial support as the act raised money to make its eighth studio album.

It worked. In a monthlong Kickstarter campaign that ended on Saturday, De La Soul raised $600,874 from 11,169 backers — far more than its goal of $110,000, which it reached in just nine hours, and the second-highest amount ever given to a musical project on the site.

Kickstarter, once seen chiefly as a tool for emerging acts, has also proven to be fertile fund-raising ground for older artists, once relegated to the reunion tour circuit. Now, they can tap loyal, if dormant, fan bases and circumvent any industry skepticism. But this money often comes with expectations.

Beyond the inventive prizes, De La Soul offered “And the Anonymous Nobody,” its first album since 2004, and one the group promised would be free of the commercial constraints that come with a traditional record deal — even with the independent labels where De La Soul had spent most of its career.

“A lot of times labels don’t even know what they want,” said Kelvin Mercer, one-third of De La Soul, who is known as Posdnuos. “They could be chasing what they think is the new thing.”

Other legacy groups have also used the side door to finance their new music. This year, the surviving members of TLC, the ’90s R&B group that hasn’t made an album since 2002, raised $430,255 to make its “final album.” It followed not-quite-hip acts like Toad the Wet Sprocket ($264,762), Kenny Loggins ($121,797) and Paula Cole ($75,258).

Michael McGregor, a Kickstarter spokesman, said that for a well-known act, the “history and the connection they’ve always had with their fans” comes through in a crowdfunding campaign. Members of De La Soul are music “lifers,” he said. “They’ve always been pretty open and honest about the issues that they’ve had within the business. Through their career, you can see the real downfall of the music industry.”

When De La Soul made its trippy, genre-bending debut, “3 Feet High and Rising,” as teenagers in 1989, the group wasn’t searching for a hit single, or aiming to please a label. “We didn’t have focus groups,” Mr. Mercer, now 46, said. “You can see the difference creatively.”

The new windfall, he said, will allow the group to experiment again with “that innocence, that gut feeling.” Before fund-raising started, De La Soul — which also includes the rappers and producers David Jolicoeur, known as Dave, and Vincent Mason, or Maseo — had spent about $100,000, recording more than 200 hours of jam sessions to sample on the album, freeing the group from paying to use music by others. Guest artists featured so far include David Byrne, Damon Albarn and 2 Chainz.

The extra money will not only pay for finishing the album, but also for marketing, including videos, and a potential tour. “Since we are an established group, we didn’t want to come off as begging or greedy,” Mr. Mercer said. “It’s not like we’re going to a $500-an-hour studio. We’re still being cautious on how we spend.”

And they still need to keep their promises. In addition to face time with De La Soul, which ran one person $7,500 for V.I.P. access, backers at various levels will receive the album on vinyl; with customized T-shirts or sneakers; and digitally, on USB drives shaped like the group members’ faces.

Some career musicians see the exchange as crass. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País last month, Morrissey called crowdfunding “a desperate measure, and insulting to the audience.”

Amanda Palmer, the punk-cabaret singer who raised a record $1.2 million for an album on Kickstarter in 2012, said the funds, which seem substantial, can go fast. From manufacturing to shipping, “all of the risk and responsibility is in the artist’s hands, whereas it used to be the label’s problem,” Ms. Palmer said.

Ms. Palmer acknowledged that crowdfunding was not for everyone. “No artist wants to feel like a charlatan salesperson,” she said. “Nor do you want to simply hide behind the system and hope that the fans and the money show up magically at your doorstep.”

Mr. Mercer said that De La Soul was “very unsure” about the arrangement until the group saw the success of veteran artists, like the director Spike Lee, on the platform. “There were definitely labels interested in De La Soul,” Mr. Mercer said, but now the group will be held accountable by only its longtime fans.

That brings a different kind of pressure. “There’s no one in the way,” he said, “and no one to blame.”

A version of this article appears in print on , Section C, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Kickstarter Effort Lifts De La Soul. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe